The Chōshū Five

The Choshu Five

By Ken Hashimoto

For us, it is really easy to study abroad in our time, compared with the last days of the Edo era. When Japan was closed country, five young Japanese men were dispatched from the Choshu domain to search for the ideal methods of the future of Japan. They would be called “The Choshu Five” later, respecting their courage. Their tremendous will was very strong and amazing. It is often said that their attitudes are just like “live instruments”. I suppose that the simile means to sacrifice even their private feelings. I assure that it can not be explained as simple heroism. I was very interested about people who sought abroad for the way to lead their nation and formed the present Japanese social system. In this article, I will refer to their characteristics and the environment which made their strong will before the voyage first, and then the social background of the last days of the Tokugawa shogunate, and lastly their contribution to Japan in their lifetimes.

At the time the principle of advocating reverence for the Emperor and the expulsion of foreigners was spreading [Editor's note: despite the nominal power of the Emperor, Japan had been ruled since 1600 by the Shogun, and had been closed to most foreign trade and influence]. In those days, the Choshu domain fired at the foreign ships hard and was definitely the base of that movement. Surprisingly, such a domain sent five young people off abroad, breaking a system of national isolation to get the information of the Great Powers of the world. Actually, scholars who had progressive ideas about Japanese foreign relations existed in the Choshu domain. I assure you that the domain was a base of flowering of culture as well as anti-foreign movement.

I should refer to Shoin Yoshida, who was the prime mover of flowering of culture and influenced the Choshu five. Before opening the country, when a fleet which was headed by Commodore Perry came to Japan to get the answer of a treaty of peace and amity, Yoshida hid in an American ship and entreated them to let him to make a voyage to America. Although his action met with failure, the necessity of getting the knowledge of foreign countries was raised.

After his death, many followers who succeeded to his idea stirred up the heads of the Choshu domain, and focused on bringing up able people. I am sure that this factor was one of great motive powers behind fulfilling the Meiji Restoration. The Choshu domain planned the secret passage of the Choshu Five, supported by cooperation of the British consul in Japan.

In the background, the five young men were selected to study abroad to London.

The members of the contingent were as follows.

• Itō Shunsuke (later Prime Minister as Itō Hirobumi), 
• Inoue Monta (later Foreign Minister as Inoue Kaoru),
• Yamao Yōzō (later Engineer, Pioneer of education for persons who are deaf and speech-impaired),
• Endō Kinsuke (later Engineer of Coinage)
• Nomura Yakichi (later made the first railway in Japan )

Itō was a pupil of Yoshida and was very close to his teacher. Taking over teacher’s will, the voyage was successful.

The Choshu Five were overwhelmed when they arrived in London and saw many huge steamships, trains or big factories. As soon as they arrived, their exclusionism was blown away in an instant. Deploring reckless exclusionism, Ito and Inoue would make every effort to open a country to foreign trade and diplomatic relations later. The others also would be leading figures in the foundation new Japan.

Studying a little, I found that many people’s strong desires had supported the Choshu five. I think that it needed huge bravery to change a nation. I was very moved by their enthusiasm and thought that I also wanted to get strength in my mind like them. I realized that it is important to have a wide vision and be confident in my own will.

http://hagilib.city.hagi.lg.jp/genkou/tokusyurist/2006.8tyousyuugoketu/1701.2006.8tyousyuugogektu02.jpg

Fukuzawa Yukichi

Fukuzawa Yukichi

By Kana Suzuki

I will talk about Fukuzawa Yukichi by presenting a brief introduction of his background, what he wanted to do for Japan, and the mediation he used to spread his thought.

Nowadays, Fukuzawa is famous for his portrait on the ten-thousand-yen-note. He was born in January 10, 1835 in Nakatsu, which is in present-day Oita. His father was a low-ranking samurai, therefore he had strong feelings about the class system in Japan from an early age. His father died when he was 2 years old, so his mother brought him up. When he was a child, he was an urchin and disliked reading books. However, when he was 14 years old, he began to fret about that everyone studied hard except him, so he started studying. Soon after he started studying, he distinguished himself in the study.

When he was 19 years old, he went to Nagasaki, and learned Dutch studies there. One year after, he visited Osaka, and decided to learn at Tekijuku, under Ogata Koan. While he was suffering from sickness, he finally reached the top of that school when he was 22 years old. After that, he went to Edo, and opened a school. When he visited Yokohama in the next year, he felt the strong necessary of English, and started studying it. In 1859, he went to America as an attendant of the captain of “Kanrinmaru” (咸臨丸). And in 1862, he went to Europe with a mission, and learned about European circumstances, history, and thoughts. After coming back to Japan he published “Seiyou Jijou” (“Conditions in the West”, 西洋事情). In 1867, he went to America as a member of the shogunate, and wrote “Seiyou Jijou Gaihen” (“Conditions in the West, vol. 2”, 西洋事情 外編) and “Sekai kunizukushi”(“Countries of the World”, 世界国尽). In 1868, he moved his school to Shiba, which is present Mita, and named the school Keioh gijuku [Editor's note: this was the forerunner of Keio University]. He wrote “Gakumon no susume” (“An Encouragement of Learning”, 学問の進すゝめ) in 1872, and “Bunmeiron no gairyaku” (“Outline of a Theory of Civilisation”, 文明論之概略) in 1875.

He is said to be an Enlightenment thinker. Firstly, he tried to introduce Western civilization to Japan, and make Japan modernized. In addition to this, he came to develop his own ideas. He insisted that the Japanese needed to be independent. He believed that national independence leads people to be independent, so he promoted business because financial independence of each person was connected to Japan’s development. At that time, he focused on tradition of Japan, spirits of samurai, which is diligence and loyalty. On the other hand, he criticized the traditional disproportion of power in Japan, and he thought new spirits could change this situation. When he proceeded to reform Japanese traditional idea, he noticed the importance of samurai. He thought that samurai could improve Japan’s industry with their animation, responsibility, and wide view. To conclude, his idea was based on asking a spirit of independence and self-respect for everyone.

Mainly he showed his thought in his books. For example in “Gakumon no susume” (学問のすゝめ), he said that whether rich and high-class or not, all people needed education, and that this connected to independence of themselves and nation. In “Bunmeiron no gairyaku”(文明論の概略), he was comparing Japan and another country, and explained that improvement of public sentiment by interchanging and competing freely could make Japan independent as a civilized country. In addition to this he made a school, “Keio gijuku”(慶応義塾), which declares his policy of education for everyone. As he focused on this school as a core, through aspects of politics, economy, society, and speech, he spread the movement of involving ideas. In 1874 he made a meeting hall in his school to show the importance of speech for public. In another way, food like milk and eating meat was introduced. He was said to be the first person who brought the word “curry” to Japan. And he did not like to be seen as domineering, so he did not dress up formally.

What he tried to do was modernize Japan. He was really familiar with western culture and social conditions, and understood them well. Then, he thought that to take some good points from them would help Japan modernize. The one of the most important focuses of his opinion was independence and self-respect. To spread this idea, he built a school, and wrote many books. It is said that we Japanese can learn a lot from Fukuzawa even now.

References

[Yukichi Fukuzawa-NAVER conclusion] <http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2137791402934501401?page=2>

[About Yukichi Fukuzawa-words] <http://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%A6%8F%E6%B2%A2%E8%AB%AD%E5%90%89>

[Wikipedia] <http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A6%8F%E6%BE%A4%E8%AB%AD%E5%90%89>

Hutchinson.C. Personal communication (course materials)

Yoshida Shoin

By Yoshiki Takanashi

Yoshida Shoin

Do you know the person who tried to sneak into the Perry’s Black Ship, the first ship which came to open Japan to the world? It is Yoshida Shoin who tried to change Japan in the Edo and Meiji era. He is known as a samurai, thinker, educator and community scholar. Generally he is said to be the spiritual leader of the Meiji Restoration. The information from textbook in school is not at all about him. His essence is far away from people we see in the textbook. If I explain his character in one word, crazy is only word which matches him. He did crazy things which usually people do not. I will describe him how great and crazy he was in the view of his background, personality and what we can learn from him.

He was born in Hagi in the Choshu region of Japan as Sugi Yurinosuke. He studied at Shokasonjuku, which is a cram school that his uncle opened. In 1982, he planned to travel to the north-east (Tohoku region) with his friends and to keep the promise of departure, he left the Choshu clan without getting any permission from them. After arriving at Edo, he was accused of a crime and lost his rank of samurai and relations between him and his family. In 1853, when Perry came to Uraga, his mind was heading to go abroad. After that, Russian warship came and he and his friend tried to sneak into the ship but they could not succeed because the warship left earlier than the schedule because of the war. They did the same thing to Perry’s Black Ship but were told to go back because if Perry brought them to U.S it would have been illegal. Their baggage were on the boat which they used to sneak into the Black Ship and the boat was already floated somewhere so they thought they would be caught easily. Therefore, they surrendered not to humiliate themselves. They were sent to prison but a few years later, Shoin was released from the prison and opened Shoukason-juku, the same name as his old school, and educated many talented people.

As I mentioned in the beginning of essay, he was a crazy person. From his totally unexpected action, we can read some of his character. By the way, he was a believer of Youmeigaku which is consciousness that we should not just obey the power but act with responsibility. I will explain this Youmeigaku more specifically and simply by using their precept. First, even if an action is illegal, it is just if you thought it is just. Second, if you did not act what you studied, it means learning is for nothing. Third, every human has moral fiber inborn so as long as you follow it, your action is just. These are his consciousness and also he left a quote which shows his personality. The best quote showing his character is, “if you set an aim, you have to start from the day you set it” (Yoshida Shoin). From his actions such as sneaking into warship and leaving Choshu clan without permission, he completely put into practice this quote. From these elements, we can say he is direct and active.

What we should learn from him is his ability to take action and accomplish a purpose. However, the teller has often spruced up history. Some people say he is dangerous and I think this is true. In fact, he tried to assassinate some people who he thought were wrong. There is doubt about whether he tried to assassinate Perry. His justice is not justice for all people which means he was just evil for the Bakufu government. Whether he is right or not, his way of living is something we can respect because he did it for the country not for himself.

In conclusion, I wrote some criticism of him but he receives recognition from many people and his way of life is admirable. For instance, his action surprised Perry but he felt admiration for Shoin. There is less necessity now for people like him because of change of age but thanks to people who changed or tried to change Japan, what we have today is result of their effort and great success.


References

Hiruta, R. Yoshida Shoin sonohito wo miru (Look at Yoshida Shoin). Retrieved on 17/07/2013 from http://homepage2.nifty.com/kumando/mj/mj011005.html

Quotes of Yoshida Shoin. (9/10/2011). Retrieved on 17/07/2013 from http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2131813940838887701

Yoshida Shoin (10/7/2013). Retrieved on 15/07/2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshida_Sh%C5%8Din

Yosshi (8/8/2012). Yoshida Shoin ha tadano terorisuto ni suginai (Yoshida Shoin was a just a terrorist). Retrieved on 17/07/2013 from http://blog.nihon-syakai.net/blog/2012/08/002325.html

Kaientai (海援隊)

By Takahiro Aoyagi

During the Edo period (1603-1868), there was no one who ever imagined that Satsuma Domain and Choshu Domain would join hands in order to overthrow the Tokugawa Government. It is well known that these two domains had been in an unfavorable relationship for long time. However, when it came to the tense political situation, they finally compromised and formed Satcho Alliance against people’s view in 1866. It is not extraordinary to say that this was the moment the overthrow of the government truly started. Nevertheless, it would have been impossible to reach this state if Kaientai had not helped them get together in a lot of ways.

Kaientai was an organization led by Ryoma Sakamoto, who was a low class samurai from Tosa Domain, which mainly spent itself in commercial activity. In Japanese, the name of this organization means “the company which supports Japan over the ocean.” and it is not hard to imagine from its meaning that they already had foresight of importance of overseas despite the period of isolation policy in Japan. Some studies suggest that this was the first stock company in Japan, but it is still argued whether it is true or not. Anyway, there was no such thing in this era, thus, this foundation of a company was very new to people and this was when Ryoma Sakamoto gradually became known by entire country. Ryoma Sakamoto initially predicted the necessity of knowledge and technology from overseas so the company mainly traded firearms, especially a lot of guns, with foreign companies. Besides, it was looking for some naval ship to possess, which only the government had at that age, in order to spread their range of work. No one believed they could get it because naval ship was like an unbelievable item of foreign technology that most ordinary people had never seen, but finally they fulfilled their dream and got some old ships by their profit made through trade. In the end, they literally became the company which could support Japan over the ocean.

Kaientai was an influential political organization as well as one of the first stock companies of Japan. Ryoma Sakamoto was a loyal supporter of the Emperor who used to belong to Tosa Domain, however, he had already left his domain behind when he started this company. That is why he was not under the control of his domain and started looking for a way to compromise between Satsuma and Choshu. Since he was independent, the organization was mainly constructed by non-party people who had left their domain called “Roshi (浪士)”, and a lot of them spent their life working towards the Satcho Alliance. Needless to say, there were many troubles and difficulties during this process. After many efforts by each domain and Kaientai, the Satcho Alliance was concluded through Takamori Saigo from Satsuma, Takayoshi Kido from Choshu and Ryoma Sakamoto from Kaientai at Kyoto in 1866.

After the conclusion of Satcho Alliance, the company still kept supporting the alliance by providing firearms they got from trade for upcoming battle against the government. They not only provided the arms, but also fought against the government with their naval ship in second conquest of Choshu. As a result, Choshu beat the government in the end and the restoration of government to the crown called “Taiseihokan (大政奉還)” occurred in 1867. In this year, one of the biggest goals Kaientai set out was ultimately fulfilled, but meanwhile a shocking tragedy happened. Ryoma Sakamoto, the leader of the company, was killed on November 15th in 1887. This news shook up whole organization and it was broken up within a year. After breaking up, Yataro Iwasaki, who was in charge of accounting of the company, reconstructed the organization. It is widely known that he finally founded one of biggest company in Japan called “Mitsubishi”, based on Kaientai.

Today, Japanese people might learn about Satsuma, Choshu or overthrow of the government in history class, however, there is no specific explanation about Kaientai or Ryoma Sakamoto who devoted their life to the Meiji Restoration. It is a shame they hardly catch light behind a textbook in spite of their contribution. This is a small part of the problem, therefore, I suggest way of education in history class change from memorizing style to discussion style so that people can develop their thinking skills with “how” or “why” than “when” or “where”. We have to keep in mind that our life today is based on many victims and commitments in the past. Kaientai was one of them which supported the Satcho Alliance until overthrow of the government by mainly providing them with firearms. At the same time, they instilled a concept of company in Japan as one of the first commercial organizations. Over 100 years from the Edo period, their will and foundation are still living in Japan today.


References

Bakumatsuishin Dictionary. (2006, December 23). Retrieved July 24, 2013, from http://jpco.sakura.ne.jp/shishitati1/shishitati.htm

Georges Ferdinand Bigot

By Kumiko Omura

Georges Ferdinand Bigot is a French cartoonist and illustrator born in 1860. A picture below is very famous for one of Bigot’s cartoons, gyofu no ri. It is depicted well in the cartoon that Japan and China competed for domination of Korea, and Russia watched carefully to usurp Korea. This cartoon explains the relationships among Japan, China and Russia in the Sino-Japanese War which occurred in 1894. Most Japanese will have seen it in text books at least once.

Bigot's famous cartoon depicting relations between Japan, China, Russia and Korea

Bigot was born in France and encouraged into art by his mother, and he was accepted by the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris at the age of 12. However, he quit school when he was 16 years old to earn a living for his family, and he began to contribute illustrations to newspapers and magazines. In 1878, he visited Paris International Exposition and knew Japan through the exhibition. It motivated him to have strong interest in Japan. Finally, he arrived at Yokohama at the age of 22. In 1882, there was a foreign settlement in Yokohama, but he never lived there because he wanted to draw Japanese daily life outside the settlement. He was hired as an oyatoi gaikokujin and taught watercolor painting at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy for 2 years. Oyatoi gaikokujin is a foreigner hired officially by Japanese government from the end of Edo Era through Meiji Era to advance Japanese modernization.

Bigot published his own magazine TOBAE while he stayed at Japan. TOBAE was a satirical cartoon magazine targeting Japanese politicians, and its readers were mostly foreigners living in the settlement. It was TOBAE in which gyofu no ri, mentioned before, appeared. TOBAE was first published in 1887 and continued until 1889, in the midst of the Freedom and People’s Rights Movement. This was a campaign to request establishment of a national assembly legislature from 1874 through 1890 in Japan. Bigot aimed to criticize politics and Japanese society through TOBAE and claimed what they should be (2006, Shimizu, p.g. 38-39). He sent TOBAE to newspaper publishing companies, magazine publishing companies and journalists to try to influence them. Chomin Nakae, who was a leading figure of the campaign, helped him to caption cartoons in TOBAE. On 11th February 1889, the Constitution of the Great Empire of Japan was promulgated, and then the Freedom and People’s Rights Movement came to an end (2006, Shimizu, p.g. 132). This constitution was enforced until Japan lost the Second World War. After that, he mainly played up the treaty revision in TOBAE. He stated that it was too early for Japan to revise treaties because Japanese legal code had not been completed yet (2006, Shimizu, p.g. 143).

In 1894 at the age of 27, Bigot followed Japanese military as a special correspondent of British newspaper The Graphic and went to the front of the Sino-Japanese War. This event led his career as a news painter and shifted his theme to the Far East Asia situation. His paintings from the field had things that the mass media hardly took up. After the Sino-Japanese War, readers of his magazines decreased because they feared the abolition of foreigner settlement and returned back to their countries. He also decided to go back to France a month before the treaty revision realized., at the age of 32.

It was after the Second World War that Bigot's cartoons became widely known to Japanese people. Bigot came to Japan longing for Japanese ukiyoe and really loved Japan, especially Japanese masses. He left many drawings of Japanese masses, and began to depict people in the middle and higher classes when he published TOBAE. At that time, it was difficult for foreigners staying at Japan and masses to see the lives of people in the upper class. He reported their life to foreigners and masses through his drawings. He totally recorded Japanese people and society in the end of 19th century on drawings as a cartoonist, an artist or a journalist. Bigot’s works helped Japanese in Meiji to fill the gap between classes from the point of view of a foreigner, and gave foreigners in the settlement chance to know better Japanese lives from masses to the higher class. His cartoons are very precious and helpful for us today to visually know Japanese life in Meiji Era when was short of visual materials, too (2006, Shimizu, p.g. 11-12).


―Reference―

Simizu, I. (2006). Bigo ga Mita Meiji Nippon [Bigot and Japan in Meiji]. Tokyo: Ko-dan sha